Free Fashion Books, Courtesy of The Met

When I was in college, my roommate and I were very broke. This meant that anything we wanted to do in our free time needed to be either very very cheap, or (preferably) free. One of our favorite pastimes was visiting our local library. In the summer, it was a wonderful place to get out of the sweltering SC heat that our one ancient window A/C unit didn’t stand a chance against.

My favorite sections to pore over were Art and Fashion.

Art and Fashion books are generally very pricey, due to their size and that they contain mostly photographs, which are much more expensive to print than just text. I learned a great deal about fashion and art history while buried in the stacks, and I think that’s made a huge difference in how I clothe myself now vs. before. By learning more about fashion history, I was better able to create my own unique style, rather than just buy what was trendy right there and then.

This is fantastic! So excited to look through these (McQueen!!!), thank you for the links. You are a treasure and I have immensely enjoyed “getting to know you” through this blog. You even inspired me to start my own!: http://www.hemsandhahas.com. You are a rockstar, Jillian!

I agree with all you say about our library! I am so, so spoiled by the library here in Columbia. If I ever move, I will be really lost. I use library services every day. Whether it’s reading a book or watching a DVD, reading an e-book or an e-magazine or using the hoopla app, I LOVE the library! Now I have another avenue of interest that I hadn’t considered! Thank you, Jiillian.

dayum miss jillian. this post was worth the price of admission alone. wow. thank you for sharing.
may you be blessed with 4 more pairs of hands, feet and unlimited hours in the day to get all your magical refashions done. oh yeah, and have fun on the bon voyage. :D

I am about to be housebound for yet another entire month for my 4th ankle surgery in a year. I will bless you every day that I enjoy being able to download these publications from the Met. Thanks, Jilly!!!

Librarians everywhere thank you for your vote of enthusiasm! It’s the best game in town. Thanks too for the links. Enjoying the sportswear one – the section on why women’s clothes did not have pockets was fascinating. I just transferred the pdf of the one on Orientalism to my Kindle Fire to read as an ebook. Major eye candy!

ok, I’m not a technical dummy but I don’t see anything that allows us to read them(I tried Chanel and McQueen). I clicked on a book about swords. Then it brought up a blurb and a “more” link. I clicked on that. The next page showed me a “pdf download” link. But that link is not on Chanel or McQueen. All it shows is preview, table of contents, and a link to buy it.